Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of a potential equity gap in UK venture capital sector.

I have asked the British Business Bank to publish its analysis of equity finance available to UK small business before the end of the year, which will include analysis on UK venture capital. The Department also published an economics paper in January 2012 on SME access to finance, which summarized the evidence at that time about the equity gap in UK venture capital. The paper is available at the following web address: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32263/12-539-sme-access-external-finance.pdf